Credit crunch downsizing? Home Sweet Home!

[Steve Maskery]

There was I, minding my own business.

SWMBO: "Niece is getting two guinea pigs for her birthday."

Me: "Oh really, that's nice for Niece."

S: "I said you'd make her a hutch."

M: "Did you indeed? And when is her birthday?"

S: "Er, next weekend."

So everything has to stop, I have to find a design, go shopping, and do the stuff. And, magically, Uncle Steve comes up with the goods:

Yes, I know, it needs some felt and a grille.

Fine furniture? Oh how the mighty have fallen. Except in my case the mightiness is yet to come. Still, niece should be happy.

Actually, the most satisfying bit is the fact that I bought exactly the right amount of timber. I thought I'd bought way too much, but you'd be surprised at how much wood goes into it.

S

 

[Dibs-h]

Do guinea pigs live outside?

 

[Paul Chapman]

Nice job, Steve.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[CHJ]

Do guinea pigs live outside?

Yes, and breed quite happily, at least the 30 + that had the run of our fruit orchard did. :lol: Oh, and something else, they can jump quite well, would you believe a 2ft wire fence? and be sneaky enough to jump back in their own section when the party was over, hence the 30+ before we found out.

 

[Ironballs]

You forgot the chimney Steve

 

[OPJ]

Very nice, Steve. And I was expecting something made out of ply! What will you be using to treat and protect the timber, bearing in mind this is going to house small animals?

How many jigs did it take you to build it??? I can imagine you've used a tapering jig at least once!

 

[Dibs-h]

Do guinea pigs live outside?

Yes, and breed quite happily, at least the 30 + that had the run of our fruit orchard did. :lol: Oh, and something else, they can jump quite well, would you believe a 2ft wire fence? and be sneaky enough to jump back in their own section when the party was over, hence the 30+ before we found out.

Probably sounded a dense questions - the only ones I've ever seen were pets belonging to children and were kept in "cages" in the home. The guinea pigs that is.

Nice work!

 

[Simon]

Steve when you make the grill, make sure you use a fine mesh. I made a guinea pig cage a while ago for my son. One morning I found a rat in the cage stealing the guinea pigs' food. Needless to say I had to go down a couple of sizes from what I thought would be rat proof.

 

[Steve Maskery]

You forgot the chimney Steve

You know, I did seriously consider that

OPJ - as it happens I made a new taper jig for this project
I don't know what it's going to be treated with. That's Daddy's job rather than Uncle's. Same with the mesh and felt.

SWMBO came home today and said "That's nice, dear. Oh, it doesn't have an Inside." Some people are never satisfied.

S

 

[MikeG.]

Very nice........did you get planning permission for that Steve?

All those nice -fitting boards on the floor.....I'll be interested in an "after" photo in a years time!!

Mike

 

[Steve Maskery]

All those nice -fitting boards on the floor.....I'll be interested in an "after" photo in a years time!!

Yes, I did wonder about them. I originally had them going lengthways, but they were very bouncy, even for a GP, I think. I've left about 10mm overall for expansion when it gets wet (!) and each is pined with just one nail to keep it in place. I'm hoping that will be sufficient. If it isn't, well, we live and learn.
S

 

[mickthetree]

what? not wip photos??

:wink:

 

[Steve Maskery]

No, sorry, not even for Nick. I just had to get on with it, and I've been proper poorly too, cough, cough. My two main priorities were getting it finished and doing Bee Gees impressions.


"Ah, ah, ah , ah, Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive..."!

S

 

[matt]

I'd get yourself some fox proof hardware on there too...

As for the grille size... needs to be mice proof too. I've got quite a large cage with large doors so ended up using a rigid 20mm grille for strength supplemented with a secondary mesh of 10mm to keep the mice out. It's more obscured than I would have liked but needs must.

You can just about make it out in the pic:

 

[Ironballs]

Matt - why have you got a picture of a wasp as your avatar? I hate wasps and am a big girl whenever they come near, they're the one thing that can give me goose bumps just by being near me - mind you I've never been face to face with a grizzly bear etc. Black bear yes, grizzly no

 

[matt]

Matt - why have you got a picture of a wasp as your avatar? I hate wasps and am a big girl whenever they come near, they're the one thing that can give me goose bumps just by being near me - mind you I've never been face to face with a grizzly bear etc. Black bear yes, grizzly no

Erm... I dunno. I find myself taking pics of them and bees quite often and they just seem to make quite colourful avatars. I don't like wasps either. They're forever flying in to my garage when I'm working - most alarming when you're using a power tool and switch it off to find a buzzing too near for comfort. They're persistent pippers too.

Watch out if you taking washing off the line, especially if it's still slightly damp. It's not unusual for a wasp to be taking a drink, concealed in a garment. As I found out one evening...

 

[Mikey R]

What will you be using to treat and protect the timber, bearing in mind this is going to house small animals?D

I don't know what it's going to be treated with. That's Daddy's job rather than Uncle's. Same with the mesh and felt.

Hey, I guess you know this already, but small animals arent too good with fumes. When I was small I lost a rabbit to a freshly finished hutch.

Maybe something water based would be good? Anyone?